Equality Groups

Equality and Diversity

A range of information including advice and support on the protected characteristics (sometimes known as the equality groups) can be accessed by using the links below.

On Your Doorstep (offering the local community information on support and activities for themselves, friends or for family members)

Celebrating the difference a great dad can make, research shows how children and women benefit from the positive involvement of fathers. To find out how to become involved or details of events during 2016, visit www.yearofthedad.org

Legislation

The Equality Act 2010 strengthens and harmonises all previous legislation into a single Act and provides greater protection against discrimination to anyone covered by the Act. Public bodies such as Fife Council now must comply with both the general duty and specific duties.

British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015

To promote the use of British Sign Language including by making provision for the preparation and publication of a British Sign Language National Plan for Scotland and by requiring certain authorities to prepare and publish their own British Sign Language Plans in connection with the exercise of their functions; and to provide for the manner in which such plans are to be prepared and for their review and updating.

Equality Evidence

See below for further information on the Equality Evidence Framework and Toolkit for Public Authorities - A framework to help public authorities to gather and use equality evidence.

Age

Age discrimination affects many people. Young workers may be underpaid or belittled. Older people may miss out on jobs because of their age. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits age discrimination.

It's unlawful to discriminate against, harass or victimise a person because of their age

in employment,

in higher education and

in providing recreational & training facilities.

Within communities negative attitudes, stereotyping and myths exist with young and older people. The council are aware of this. People's needs can be overlooked due to these misguided attitudes and beliefs.

We recognise that we need to deliver services in a variety of ways including:

Ensure the services we deliver and services delivered on our behalf are :

appropriate and relevant to the needs of people of all ages

Ensure people are able to live active, independent and healthy lives

Help and enable people to contribute as full members of their communities

Supporting learning and development throughout life

Provide help and support to enable people to remain in their own homes for as long as they feel they are able to stay.

Scottish Accessible Information Forum(provides a variety of resources available for anyone who wants to make their information accessible including a variety of guides on how to ensure your information is presented in a way that is user friendly)

Gender re-assignment

Gender reassignment refers to people who propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone a process of gender reassignment. The umbrella term for this group is Trans or Transgender, which encompasses a wide range of people whose personal experience of their gender is different from what society might expect. This includes terms such as transsexual, transvestite and cross-dressing people. Trans people can be lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual.

Under the Equality Act 2010, Trans people cannot be directly or indirectly discriminated against, nor can they be harassed.

Mermaids UK (family and individual support for teenagers and children with gender identity issues)

The Gender Trust (a registered charity, which supports all those affected by gender identity issues)

Race

Race is a protected characteristic and refers to a group of people defined by their race, colour, and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins. It includes all groups i.e. white europeans; gypsy travellers.

It is one of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

It is unlawful for a person to discriminate on racial grounds against another person. For the purposes of the Act ‘race’ includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. A racial group can be made up of two or more different racial groups (eg Black Britons).
Fife is becoming increasingly multicultural, with many languages being spoken in Fife homes and native born Fifers belong to most of the world’s main religious and ethnic groups.

Migration Matters Scotland was developed to help local authorities and their community planning partners to think about how to welcome, integrate and involve migrant communities in Scotland.

a Migration Policy Toolkit that aims to help . It is designed around a number of key policy areas, is fully interactive and includes a wide variety of case studies which highlight good practice that has been identified from across the country.

an online Migration Database, designed to be a one stop shop for research, policy papers and statistics relating to migration in a Scottish context. Its purpose is to improve information sharing and understanding between policy makers, practitioners and researchers.

a report of the findings from engagement activities that were undertaken with migrants in conjunction with a number of pilot councils across the country.

a report that was commissioned by National Records of Scotland on how councils can utilise data from the census to inform them in relation to their migrant populations.

Religion and belief

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of religion or belief. The Act defines religion and belief as:

religion - any religion or reference to religion, including a reference to a lack of religion

belief - any religious or philosophical belief or reference to belief, including a reference to a lack of belief

Religion or belief should be taken to mean the full diversity of religious and belief affiliations within the UK, including non-religious and philosophical beliefs such as atheism, agnosticism and humanism.

As an employer and in our service delivery we are committed to promoting equality of opportunity on the grounds of religion or belief.

Sex

Gender/sex is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, and refers to a man or a woman of any age. It does not include gender reassignment or sexual orientation, which are protected as separate characteristics.

As a Council we are committed to ensuring everyone has equal access to our services, whether service user, customers or staff.

We offer staff a range of support mechanisms including our Getting the Balance Right policy, which recognises that employees need a variety of flexible working options to meet their needs.

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, and means a person's orientation towards persons of the same sex (i.e. the person is a gay man or a gay woman/lesbian), persons of the opposite sex (i.e. the person is straight or heterosexual) or persons of either sex (i.e. the person is bisexual).

It does not include gender reassignment.

It is difficult to quantify the number of LGB because of discrimination many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual people are not "out". The current estimate is that approximately 6% of our population are LGB (22,000 people in Fife (2011census figures)). This is a significant number of people who may be particularly vulnerable to hate crimes and discrimination.

As a Stonewall Diversity Champion we have made a commitment to ensure our workplace is inclusive. By recognising diversity we can improve our workplace practices and ensure we provide better customer service.

We have a council-wide commitment to respond to all types of harassment both in the workplace and the wider community.

Transvisions - The LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing in Edinburgh, has produced this DVD which features candid conversations with transgender people that challenge the stigma and misunderstandings surrounding transgender identities:

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